


A Delicate Fate

by TiBun



Series: The Strongest Hearts Saga [5]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Deaf Clint Barton, M/M, Omega Tony Stark, Omega Verse, One Shot, Stony - Freeform, The Avengers - Freeform, can be read separately
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22294018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiBun/pseuds/TiBun
Summary: After years of being frozen in time, Tony Stark was awoken to the future he had hoped wouldn't be. His parents were dead, Steve was still gone, and omegas had gained no further equality. At least, that's what Obadiah Stane claimed when he brought Tony out of his frozen nap.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: The Strongest Hearts Saga [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1595776
Comments: 6
Kudos: 204





	A Delicate Fate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bigwolfpup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigwolfpup/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Strongest Hearts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20898746) by [bigwolfpup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigwolfpup/pseuds/bigwolfpup). 



> Disclaimers: This fic takes place after chapter 14 of “The Strongest Hearts” by BigWolfPup and serves as an alternate ending based off of scrapped ideas for the fic series. I had been BWP’s beta reader and idea bouncer for the fic so we often discussed ideas for the fic that we knew wouldn’t end up happening. This is not part of the AU’s canon, and is just a fun little bonus for the readers of the AU.  
> I do not own any recognizable characters and only explore the possibilities.
> 
> If you have not read The Strongest Hearts, first of all, you should! But if not, all you need to know is Tony and Steve met in the 40s during the events of The First Avenger, and started a relationship. After Steve went into the ice, Tony decided he wanted to wait for Steve and be put into suspended animation.

**New York, 2012**

The bathroom was dimly lit by the blue glow from the arc reactor embedded in Tony’s chest as he relaxed in his bath, the water scented with oils that made his skin silky and enhanced his natural omegan scent. Not that it mattered if he felt soft or smelled nice. Not anymore. He didn’t have anyone he wanted to impress. He knew his fate was to live on alone, and he had finally come to accept that fate a year and a half before when he’d been brought out of the past and into a future he didn’t recognize.

It had been nearly seventy years since he’d lost his alpha to the war, seventy years since he’d lost their unborn child due to the overwhelming stress and emotional pain he was under after losing his alpha. Seventy years since his heart shattered completely, and sixty-three years since he couldn’t take the pain and loneliness anymore and he begged his father to freeze time for him in hopes that one day his alpha—his _Steve_ would be found alive.

But it wasn’t meant to be. When he was brought back into the world, Steve had not been there to greet him, nor had his mother or father been there. His foolish, selfish request had not only failed to give him back what he’d hoped, but it had thrown away every precious second he had, had left to spend with the family he still had.

A car accident, he’d been informed by the man who had awoken him; the cold December winter of a year Tony had no memories from had claimed the life of his dear mother and his father.

There had also never been an Omegan Rights Revolution as he had once hoped would sweep the nation—maybe even the world. In fact, it seemed that there had been a regression in Omegan Rights since the 1940’s. He was really nothing more than his father’s possession, when he boiled down to it, so with his father’s death…

Well, his father’s at-the-time business partner Obadiah Stane had inherited everything Howard Stark owned, and that included the son he had frozen in a pod, hidden away in a secret closet behind Howard’s home office. Obadiah claimed he hadn’t found Tony until 2010 when he’d awoken the omega. But Tony got the feeling that he’d been known about longer than that. After all, as soon as he’d been awoken and recovered from the effects of being frozen in time for so many years, Obadiah had put Tony to work, figuring out some calculations that those who worked at Stark Industries had failed to figure out time and time again.

And Tony had succeeded, proving his worth to the alpha who was now legally his caretaker. As a reward, he’d been given his own private lab to work in. He could invent, build, improve, and experiment as much as he wanted, so long as he worked on the issues Obadiah brought to him, first.

But the lab was his only world. He wasn’t permitted to leave as he wished. Contained strictly to his lab, bedroom, and bathroom. His only human contact was Obadiah when he needed a Stark brain, or the pretty beta woman he called Pepper who had been hired to babysit him. She checked in on him a few times each day, brought him his food, did any shopping he needed, provided the comfort of human contact.

Pepper reminded him of Peggy in a lot of ways, so he found comfort in her presence.

He also had access to the news, though sometimes he wished that was kept from him, as well.

Headlines like ‘ _Captain America Saves the Day Again!_ ’ mocked his pain. Some monkey in a star-spangled suit had been given _Steve’s_ title and rank and was running all over the place fighting crime as a masked vigilante along with a team of alphas that had taken up new ‘hero’ names. It made him bitter that someone other than Steve would be given that title.

The wanna-be Captain America with his team; Black Widow, a strong female alpha who really knew how to take control of a fight, Hulk, a gigantic green man who seemed to just like smashing things, Thor, an alpha with long flowy hair and a hammer that seemed to have some sort of electric shock device inside it, Hawkeye, a man that seemed far too small to be an alpha, but he was on the team, so he had to be. No way he could be an omega as he appeared… And Winter Soldier who was usually always accompanying Hawkeye. Ridiculous. All of them.

Together they made up the crime-fighting dancing ponies known as the Avengers.

Tony didn’t pay too much attention to the group. The news outlets liked to flip-flop between being in support or against the idea, and he didn’t know what to trust. Plus he couldn’t go outside to find out himself, anyway, so it didn’t affect him either way.

But still, something about watching them on the news would remind him of his time joining the Howling Commandos, and, even if he’d never get to leave his lab, he’d begun to rework the idea of his old uniform, better incorporating his arc reactor into it, so he could dream of being a hero—of doing something that would have made his alpha proud of him. It was a pipe dream, to be sure.

But also one he didn’t want stolen away from him. Obadiah tended to take anything Tony created that the old alpha saw profit in, so he kept his suit hidden away.

Tony let out another sigh and shifted, placing a hand over his flat belly that had lost a lot of the muscle he’d once built up there, then he pushed himself up and stepped out of the cooling water, set it to drain, and toweled off. Then he moved over to the sink and wiped down the mirror.

“It’s actually starting to look like proper facial hair, Little Bitsy.” he said, taking in the goatee he’d been trying to grow. Being an omega meant that his facial hair grew incredibly slow, and most male omegas got it in patchy even if they did wait for it to grow out. But his was seemingly thick enough to look good.

Tony gave a small sad smile, “I think your daddy would have liked it, Little Bitsy. If I had this facial hair and a nice red number on...he’d be ready to give you a sibling, and—”

He forcefully turned from his reflection, fighting to keep back his tears. He needed to bury himself in designing something again...maybe another robot? Dum-E could use a friend…

Not bothering to grab his clothes, he walked out of the bathroom.

“ _Tony_!” Pepper gasped, turning away from him and hiding her face behind a file she had in her hand.

“Sorry, didn’t think you were here.” Tony shrugged, moving over to his dresser to grab a pair of sweatpants and a band T-shirt to pull on. “Better?”

“I swear you’re trying to get me fired…”

“Now why would I _want_ that to happen? You’re my only friend in the world—other than Dum-E, of course.” He flopped onto his couch and looked over at her, “So what’s with the surprise extra visit?”

“Inventory. Your heat is supposed to start soon, so I need to make sure you have everything you need. Absorbent pads, nesting supplies, toys...any particular snacks you’d like to have on hand?”

“Ah, I see.” Tony slumped. He had stopped paying attention to his cycle. His need for Steve during his heats had never faded, after all, so there was nothing to look forward to. Just bitter loneliness and unsatisfied need. Knotting toys were a joke. They didn’t feel like Steve had. They failed to satisfy him no matter how hard he tried to make them work.

He closed his eyes and flopped over onto his side, “I’d rather it if I could just go on suppressors and forget all about my stupid heats.”

“You know Mister Stane is strictly against that idea.” Pepper shook her head, “They are one of the things on his banned items list when it comes to shopping for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know… Just get me what you think I’ll need, I’ll make do like I always do.” he said, grabbing the remote and switching on the TV.

“Tony—what about an alpha musk?” Pepper asked slowly, “I know...you had an alpha before, so...I can try to match his scent for you if you describe it? It could even help with the mate sickness—”

“No...Steve...Steve was…” Tony sighed and pushed himself up, walking over to the window to look out over the city, “...Steve was special. I never smelled any alpha like him They won’t have an artificial substitute for it like they do for the most common alpha musks… And if it’s wrong, it’ll only put me on edge like the time Obadiah came here during one of my heats. It’s best to leave it be until I finally grow as old as I should be and die. I’m fine like this.”

“You aren’t fine! You haven’t been fine since we met! And I’m willing to bet you weren’t fine before that, either! Tony, yo—”

“What the _hell_ is that?” Tony interrupted, his eyes locked onto the blue sky where a darker blue and black _hole_ seemed to open up, “Is that normal? Is that a normal thing that happens in this time period?”

Pepper moved over to the window, standing next to him as she also stared, “No...this is new…”

“Right...so the things coming out of it is also new?”

Pepper spun around and grabbed for the remote, changing the channel to a news station and turning up the volume to see if anything would be said.

Or maybe she needed to call Obadiah to get permission to get Tony safely out of the city…

“I’m making a call, let me know if the news says anything important.” she said, pulling out her phone and walking out into the hall that Tony wasn’t allowed to go into.

Tony glanced away from the sky and to the TV just as breaking news hit and footage of the sky was flashing on screen, following the _things_ down to the streets where utter destruction began. People screaming and running, explosions, overturned cars, fire…

_War._

It was war down below on the streets of New York. 

Tony couldn’t hear what was being said as he watched, his chest tightening and his body shaking as he took everything in, the sounds on the news replaced with the sounds of war that he tried to keep locked away in his memories. The Howling Commandos, Bucky... _Steve…_

He took in a sharp breath, realizing he had forgotten to breathe for an unknown amount of time and he turned back to the window, looking down. He could see traces of the violence, even from so high up, and he was sure he saw a few of the _things_ fly past—the _army_ that had attacked, that were murdering civilians...innocent people just trying to get by in life— _children_ who have only barely begun to live.

Tony glanced back at the TV again, seeing the Avengers appear and start fighting.

Six alphas up against a full army of— _things_.

It wouldn’t be enough. Even if the local law enforcement joined in the fight, it wouldn’t be enough. They needed every fighter they could get. They needed an army of their own, but it’d take too long for the forces to be shipped out. Too many would die while waiting…

“Fuck it! Steve, this is for you.” he said, rushing over to where he hid his armored suit he’d painted a bright red and gold, activating it so that it’d close around his body. Then he ran straight from his closet towards the window, hand out to blast apart the glass before he leaped out and began to fall.

“Understood, sir, I’ll get him down to the safe room as soon as possible.” Pepper said, rushing back into Tony’s rooms as she hung up the phone—and then dropped it, seeing the broken window.

“Tony? Tony?!” Not seeing or hearing him, she moved to the broken window and looked down with wide eyes.

“Woah, woah!” the omega stiffened his arms and legs, the jets all working to slow his fall until he gained control and chose a direction. His flight was shaky at first, but he quickly grew used to it and he started knocking the flying _things_ out of the sky.

“WHOOO!” The rush he felt once he got the hang of flying made him feel _alive_. More alive than he’s felt since before he’d lost everything, and he couldn’t help but cheer. 

“JARVIS, you online, buddy?” he asked the AI he was in the process of creating for his suit.

“Yes sir, we seem to have left the tower?”

“Yeah, well, there’s an issue outside the tower. Can you tap into the news broadcasts or anything so we can get live updates on what’s happening?”

“I’m afraid that the news stations are going down one by one, sir, but I’ve managed to locate a government-sanctioned communication line currently in use; code SHIELD. Should I tap into that, sir?”

“You can do that? I’m a genius! Yes, do it. I’ll deal with the repercussions later.” Tony confirmed.

* * *

“What is that?” Hawkeye asked as he shot explosive arrows at the invading army, his eyes glancing at the streak of red.

“Don’t know, but whoever or whatever that is, they are clearly on our side in this—for now.” the Winter Soldier replied, not bothering to waste time watching the red streak above them, “Aw shit. We have incoming, Cap!” he said, looking up in time to see a gigantic worm-like monster-machine come out of the portal above.

Captain America was standing, mouth agape as he watched the worm float overhead, more non-human beings leaping off it’s sides onto buildings and breaking through glass to attack anyone inside. “I’m seeing it…” he confirmed.

“JARVIS, find me a soft spot?” Tony asked, flying parallel to the worm, listening in on the conversation between the heroes on the ground.

“Thor, do you think you can zap that thing out of the sky?” Winter Soldier asked.

“I’m busy dealing with my brother and the tesseract.” came the frustrated reply, “He stabbed me—again.”

“There goes our air support for now I guess.” Hawkeye shrugged, “I’m running low on arrows, too.”

“I’ll try to get you more as I find them, babe.” Winter Soldier said.

“We have trapped civilians.”

“I’ll get them out. I’m waiting for a refill, anyway. Nat, cover me.” Hawkeye said.

“Got it.” she agreed, aiming both guns forward and shooting so Hawkeye could help get people out of a bus. “This is like Budapest all over again!”

“You and I remember Budapest very differently.” he said, helping a child out of the side of the bus.

“I have the police working on setting up a perimeter.” Captain America reported.

Tony flew around in front of the worm, launching a series of small missiles at it before swerving around. The worm followed, turning sharp and crashing into a building like a knife through butter. “Well, we got it’s attention, what the hell is step two?” he muttered half to himself and half to JARVIS. He was used to Steve having a complete plan to follow, and he was just winging it, hoping something would work.

He was used to having a _team_.

Sighing he nodded in mental defeat to himself, “JARVIS, patch me in so I can talk to the Avengers.”

“You’re connected, sir.”

“So, uh, hey, you don’t know me but—”

“Who is this? How are you on this frequency?” Captain America demanded.

“Sorry, I tapped in, and I guess you can call me…” he paused as he dodged falling debris from a building, racking his mind for a ‘hero name’. “...I am Iron Man.” he finally said, cringing a bit. His suit wasn’t actually iron but...it worked, he supposed. “Look, I am in a bit over my head and so I’m bringing the party to you guys!”

He turned the corner, the worm hot on his heels.

“...I don’t see how that’s a party…” Black Widow said.

The worm was closer to the ground, knocking over cars as it chased after Tony. The omega looked ahead, seeing Hulk moving forward to greet the party he was bringing-and wow, Hulk looked a lot bigger in real life, even from a distance. Tony swerved upwards over Hulk’s head as the green alpha wound back before delivering a punch to the worm’s face, stopping it in its tracks and Tony watched as it’s long tail and body coiled upwards, threatening to slam down on the heroes. Thinking fast, he sent one of his stronger rockets at the tail, the explosion enough to shift its trajectory away from the heroes again.

The smaller creatures took notice of the worm’s defeat and roared, earning a roar back from Hulk as the heroes and Tony all stood in a circle, watching them with calculating eyes.

And just for a moment, Tony felt like he was part of something again. That he had the Howling Commandos back, and his life was something of worth again.

“Guys…” Black Widow said, looking up at the portal as more worms and creatures started emerging.

Captain America stepped forward, looking up, “Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Uh, Iron-boy, was it? You got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash.”

“It’s Iron _Man_.” Tony huffed, but flew off to do his assigned task, pleased that he was being included in the plan.

“Wait, wanna give me a lift?” Hawkeye asked, giving Tony pause. They were really putting trust in him as part of the team. That was nice.

“Right, better clench up, Legolas.” he said, turning back to grab the smallest member of the official team to give him a ride up to the roof. He really was small. Maybe the team wasn’t all alphas, after all. The man who reminded Tony of the character from the Lord of the Rings trilogy he’d watched recently could have been an omega if he didn’t know better than to hope that an omega would be allowed to be a hero. He was a beta, probably. Just a small one...like how Steve had once been a smaller than average beta. Though Steve had been less muscular as well.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he set Hawkeye on the roof and then was off again to do his given task, hearing the new Captain America continue to give out instructions to the others over their communication line.

“Iron Man, you got a lot of strings stuck to your tail.” Hawkeye said, shooting an arrow.

“Just trying to keep them off the streets.”

“Well, they can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner.”

“I will roger that.” Tony said, flying in tight corners best he could as Hawkeye fired arrows at the creatures following him that didn’t crash..

“Nice call. What else you got?” Tony asked once his tail was clear.

“Well, Thor's taking on a squadron down on 6th.”

“And he didn't invite me?” Tony joked back as if he was a normal member of the team. He swung his direction around to head towards Thor.

On his way, he spotted Black Widow on one of the creatures’ flying machines, being shot at by others. He swooped in closer, blasting the creatures off their course so that they’d crash, then he swooped down to where Captain America was surrounded, sending a blast from his hand at the Captain's shield, trusting that it was made of the same thing Steve’s had been. His assumptions proved correct when his blast reflected off it and the man in the blue mask directed it at a good number of creatures. It was if they had rehearsed the move. Then Tony was off again.

“Captain,” Hawkeye reported in again, “the bank on 42nd past MADISON, they caught a lot of civilians there.”

“I’m on it.” came the reply.

“Nat, what are you doing?” Hawkeye asked.

“Uh, a little help!” her reply came.

“I got him.”

Tony half listened in as he flew next to another worm, sending lasers at its side.

“Sir, we will lose power before you cut through that shell.” JARVIS informed him.

With a frustrated growl, the omega gave himself a speed boost to move up in front of the worm, facing it. “JARVIS. You ever hear the tale of Jonah?”

“I wouldn't consider him a role model, sir.”

Tony smirked and said nothing more as he flew straight at the worm,as he had hoped, it opened its mouth to swallow him and he forced himself through the middle of the creature until he burst out the other end. He lost control and rolled down the street, out of breath as a group of the smaller creatures started to descend upon him, weapons drawn.

“I’m out of arrows again!” Hawkeye said.

“We need to find a better solution to this issue, Dearest.” Winter Soldier groaned, “I hate you being left without amo.”

“Yeah, well, I’m open to suggestions, Babe. Also don’t get mad, I’m about to do something stupid.”

“Just don’t get hurt!” Winter Soldier said before a long pause, “Shit, guys, Fury just said a missile is headed our way, three minutes. We need to take it out somehow...the boys up top are really fucking us over, here.”

“Leave it to me.” Tony said as he fought off attackers, “Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters!” seconds later he blasted off back into the sky, keeping a sharp eye out for the missile.

“I can close it! Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!” Black Widow said.

“Do it!” Captain America said.

“No, wait!” Tony interjected.

“Iron Man, these things are still coming!” the leader of the team argued.

“Except we have that nuke coming in!” Tony reminded him, “It’ll blow in less than a minute and I’ve an idea of where to put it!” Spotting the missile, he chased after it, grabbing onto it’s tail and pulling himself up even with it before wrapping his arms around it. Then he positioned his feet downwards and with great effort and using a lot of power to his thrusters, he managed to change the course it was taking.

“That—that’s a one-way trip, kid.” Captain America warned, though there seemed to be a lot of respect in his tone.

“Well, it’ll save me from getting into trouble for tapping into your top secret communication lines.” he responded, “It was nice to be a part of something that matters.”

He put all power to thrusters and jerked the missile up sharper, watching as the portal grew closer and closer, until he could see only the vastness of space and the line of communication cut off into only static. Ice was forming all over his suit and his thusters had puttered out. He let go of the missile and felt himself floating, yet also falling backwards towards the portal again, his eyes watching as the missile made contact with some sort of alien spacecraft. He closed his eyes, sure it was the end for him, and he hoped he had done enough.

And then he was no longer floating, his body free-falling, and above him was nothing but the familiar blue skies of Earth. But he couldn’t see or feel it, his world black.

Below Thor and Captain America watched, at first happy to see the red streak return to their skies right before the portal was closed, but then they realized the new hero who had helped them so much wasn’t in control and was falling fast. Thor began swinging his hammer, intent to try and catch Iron Man, but Hulk beat him to it, catching the small hero and using buildings to lower them both roughly to the ground where he tossed Tony down on the street.

The heroes all came running, at least the ones close enough to do so. Hawkeye reached him first, falling to his knees next to the mystery man who had joined their fight.

“Hey, hey are you okay?” he gave the armored man a small shake.

No response.

Frowning, he gripped the faceplate of Tony’s helmet and managed to pry it off, tossing it to the side, the smell of desperate omega suddenly filling the air. 

Hulk shifted uncomfortably, not liking the scent of an omega soured by distress. It was wrong, and grated against his instincts as an alpha. Finally, unable to hold back he roared.

The sound shocked the omega back, his eyes opening and a gasp escaping him.

“Back up! We don’t need to upset him!” Hawkeye said, hoping Hulk would listen before he regarded Tony again with a gentle look, “Hey—don’t worry, I’m an omega too, I won’t let the alphas get too close unless you say you’re okay with it.”

“...What the hell…” Tony managed to get out, looking around as more heroes started gathering. “What just happened? Where’s my—please tell me that big guy didn’t kiss me.”

Hawkeye chuckled and sat back, “We won thanks to you.”

“Oh? Yay, great job, guys…” Tony closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath and calm himself. “I—I’m hungry...you guys like shawarma? I heard there’s a shawarma place nearby. I’ve never tried it but I’d like to…”

Thor moved into Tony’s view, “We’re not finished yet, little omega.”

Tony nodded, not knowing what else was possibly left to do, but he was too tired and weak to care, “And then shawarma after.”

“Tony?” a tight voice spoke up, grabbing Tony’s full attention and causing tears to form in his eyes. He slowly pushed himself up with Hawkeye’s help and turned, finding himself face-to-face with a maskless Captain America— _the_ Captain America. 

_His Steve._

_Alive_.

Pure emotion swimming in his blue eyes as he gazed upon Tony.

“Steve!” He gasped and ignored the pain as he moved to fling himself into his alpha’s arms. Immediately something that had been missing in both men’s hearts slid back into place.

Steve held him tight, giving out a sob of his own. “Tony—I—God, I thought…”

“What’s going on?” Thor asked.

“Fuck me, that’s Stevie’s Omega…” Winter Soldier said, moving over to the reunited couple.

“Hey, Tony, remember me?” 

Tony glanced over at him, “Bucky!” He threw himself at the other alpha, “Oh my god—weren’t you dead? Steve said you—”

“It’s a rather long, unpleasant story.” Bucky smiled sadly, petting Tony’s armored head before moving Tony away from him to latch back onto Steve.

“It seems all three of us have a complicated story to share later.” Steve sighed, pressing a kiss to Tony’s cheek.

“First we need to take care of Loki, then we can all rest and catch up.” Thor said, turning to look up at Stark Industries' tower.

* * *

The shawarma shop had been damaged, though not completely, and a shaken owner and his employee had been hiding in the back room when the Avengers and Tony all filed in. Hawkeye, who had introduced himself as Clint, and Tony fixed a table up-right and cleaned it off as Bucky and Black Widow—Nat—gathered chairs. Hulk, or Bruce as he was called when he was more human-sized and much less green, went behind the counter to knock on the back room door, calmly coaxing out the two men while Steve and Thor both looked up at the menu above the counter.

It wasn’t much longer before they each had food and were sitting around the table in silence, exhausted and hungry. Tony was curled up in Steve’s lap, munching on his food as he watched Bucky and Clint. The two sat next to each other, shoulders touching. They seemed close, and Tony thought he could remember pet names being exchanged between the two. So was this omega archer Bucky’s omega? He hoped so, Bucky deserved to be happy. The man was almost unrecognizable, and something haunted his eyes, something that wasn’t there last time Tony had seen him.

Tony was half done with his shawarma before he sighed and broke the silence, “So, Clint, right?”

Eyes all turned to him—except for Clint’s. Bucky gave a small smile and nudged Clint’s shoulder to get his attention. Clint looked up at the alpha with wide eyes. Bucky nodded over to Tony, and clint followed the direction, looking at the other omega before blinking and shrugging, “Sorry, my hearing aids need a charge. I have them turned off. Just speak slower and I should be able to read your lips while this tired.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize.” Tony said after lowering his food so Clint could see his lips better.

“It’s fine, most people don’t. This guy thought I was ignoring him for a full day when my hearing aids were in repair, once.” Clint gestured to Bucky who flushed, “What do you need?”

“I—a few things, really, if I may ask you some...personal questions?”

“Shoot.” Clint smiled, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table to lean on it.

“Are you and Bucky..?”

“Yup! Great catch, isn’t he? Even with his grumpy face he wears most of the time.” 

Bucky was even redder.

“I see, I’m glad.” Tony smiled, glancing up at Bucky, “He’s a good man who deserves to be happy.”

“Not—not really, but...Clint helps me be a better man.” Bucky said, slipping his arms around Clint’s middle. “Long story, we’ll get into that later after we’re rested properly.”

Tony nodded and looked back at Clint, “And also, You’re an omega, but you’re allowed to openly do things like this? Fighting armies from other galaxies, and all that?”

“I see.” Clint sighed and shifted back, letting Bucky pull him into his lap, “It’s true that us omegas are still as restricted as ever for the most part, but...if you know the right people, you can find little loopholes, and those loopholes get bigger if you have a supportive caretaker or mate who will support your dreams. You’re obviously with Steve, so I’m pretty sure you can officially join the team as Iron Man if you so wish.”

“I never denied you your dreams before, I’d never start denying it now.” Steve confirmed into Tony’s ear.

“My caretaker would. He’s been keeping me locked up away from the world—away from knowing you’re here.”

“Actions we are already investigating Obadiah Stane for.” another voice spoke up from the missing storefront. An imposing alpha with an eyepatch stepped in, glass crunching under his boots as he moved, followed closely by a beta in a suit.

“I understand you are the omega that somehow tapped into a government-owned secure communications line?”

Tony shifted nervously. “I did, but only so I could help and not get in the way! I won’t do it again.”

“Tony, this is Nick Fury, head of SHIELD, and the man behind putting together the Avengers. The little guy next to him is Agent Phil Coulson. I filled them in a bit on what’s going on.” Steve said, a soothing purr in his voice to try and keep the omega calm.

“You’re Anthony Stark, son of Howard and Maria Stark, heir to Stark Industries, and the omega that had promised himself to wed Captain America after World War II, correct?”

“Yes? Though I don’t know about being the heir to my father’s company—I’m just an omega, and I prefer to call Captain America Steve…”

“Your father’s will was precise, and he’d left a copy of it in our records.” Coulson said, pulling a file out of his briefcase, “It states that should his son, Anthony Edward Stark, be awakened for any reason, that everything is his inheritance and his appointed acting CEO of Stark Industries must step down. We also had instructions to awaken you if the Captain was ever found, but we could not find you to do so.” he handed Tony the document to look over.

“You are your own caretaker by your father’s will, Anthony.” Fury said.

“Call me Tony.” Tony said absently as he looked over his father’s last will and testament.

“Tony.” Fury corrected himself, “This means that Mister Stane has illegally held your property, including you as an independent person. Once our investigation is over, we will turn everything that is rightfully yours back over to you. But for now Captain Rogers has requested you to be left in his care. As you two are engaged, I find no reason to deny it.”

“And—I’m not under arrest for tapping into that line?” Tony blurted out.

Fury gave an amused look that was just as quickly hidden away again, “It is not a matter I see the need to deal with—so long as you make sure it stays that way, Mister Stark. However, I do hope we will speak later, perhaps on the future of SHIELD’s relationship with Stark Industries.”

Tony nodded vigorously, “I won’t hack anything more! Promise!”

“Good to hear. I’ll leave you all to your meal.” he said, turning to leave again.

“I uh, just need that back for the case against Stane.” Coulson said, taking the file from Tony before hurrying out again.

Tony watched the two men leave before flopping back against Steve’s chest, “Damn, I should have jumped out the window of the tower ages ago.”

Steve blinked, “You jumped...of course you did...my brilliant. reckless little omega.”

“Well, it’s not like I could have just walked out the front doors…I was locked in my room, after all. Window was faster and I just needed to have faith that my suit would work on it’s first real test run.”

“First—God, Tony, you’re going to give me grey hairs.”

“To be fair, we both should be old and white by now. Bucky, too. A bit of grey isn’t so bad.” Tony grinned.

* * *

-End-

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
